Eating Local... Hawaii Style!

Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats and I just returned from a week together in Hawaii... celebrating 10 years of dating each other! We had a great time - and even had a community of giant sea turtles living in the water right outside the condo we rented. So cool!

We were staying in Napili Bay, on the island of Maui. Vegan food was a bit of a mixed review... though I certainly never starved. By and large, I found it pretty easy to get by, and even found a few real winners for eating out. But there is one area where Hawaii really, really excels for a vegan:

TROPICAL FRUIT!

You all know how devoted I am to eating locally grown produce. Here in Santa Cruz, that means eating a lot of apples and pears this time of year... soon the citrus arrives and also the pomegranates. So it's hardly a hardship. But, all the same, I almost never allow myself the indulgence of buying bananas or papayas flown all the way from Central or South America...

So, you can image how stoked I was on this gorgeous display of what passes for local fruit in Hawaii:

Guava, Papaya, Rambutan!, Apple Bananas, Pink Dragonfruit, and Pineapple.

Oh man, I was in heaven. Not to mention the lovely view from our place.

One of the most amazing things is how you just see this fruit growing EVERYWHERE. In fact, I picked these guavas up off the ground on a hike we took. Everywhere you look are coconut trees, guava trees, banana trees, papaya trees, sugar cane, mango trees (sadly, it was not mango season)... for a food-crazed freak like me, it's positively distracting!

These wonderful little bananas called apple bananas were available at the farmer's markets and they were so delicious. Little and sweet, but with a little tang of tartness, I was totally in love with them. One day I just ate 7 of them for lunch.

Also, these little rambutan were a big highlight for me. I've had fresh rambutan a couple of times before - but these were absolutely the most delicious ones I've ever had. They were juicy and moist, sweet and soooo delicious. Rambutan is similar to a lychee nut ... Mr. VE&Ts says they are like a juicy little coconut. I'm not sure about that... They are sweet, but not sugary, a firm but juicy flesh, a little hint of lemony flavor, with an almond sized pit in the middle. I ate as many as possible!

Another big star for me was this gorgeous pink dragonfruit. Like Rambutan, I'd had fresh dragonfruit before (when we were in China), but MAN this was a whole different story. The flesh is delicate and melts in your mouth. It's full of seeds, but they are not a nuisance at all - they are like little sesame seeds or quinoas as far as texture. The flavor is light, delicately sweet, and lovely to eat. And that stunning color... totally cool.

Sadly, we learned that in January, Maui will no longer be growing pineapples for export. What a shame. One of the gigantic landholders in West Maui has developed into massive golf courses, condos, villas, hotels, and so on ... and it all used to be pineapple farms. Apparently it is a difficult and demanding crop, and it's not as lucrative as more Ritz-Carlton hotels. Sigh. We made a special point to eat and enjoy as much pineapple as possible.

Here is a crazy little picture of me celebrating the local Apple Bananas, still on the tree. Future Yum!

Well, you can bring home as many pictures as you take, but you can't bring home rambutan and dragonfruit. You should have seen me, gluttonously scarfing down 1/2 a pineapple, an entire papaya, 2 bananas, and six rambutan on our way to the airport!!! I was determined to maximize my tropical fruit consumption to the very end!!!

However, I did bring home a few special little treats from Maui to share with you, my faithful readers. In honor of ten years of Mr. VE&Ts and Me, I'm offering a little piece of Hawaii to one lucky winner: Hawaii Candy Coconut Wafer Cookies (they look sorta like fortune cookies), totally delicious Dried Mango (no sugar), Dry Roasted Unsalted Macadamia Nuts, a mini jar of Maui Pineapple Jam, and a mini jar of Hawaiian Mixed Fruit Jelly (Lilikoi, Guava, Pineapple, & Orange). If you want to win, just leave a comment - and be sure to leave your email address if you don't have a blog where I can reach you. I'll pick the winner next Wednesday, one week from today!

Now I'm happy to be home, cuddling with our furbabies again, and hard at work in the kitchen getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow!

Toasty Autumn Suppers!

Monday Night: "Gingery Split Pea Soup" from Voluptuous Vegan

I love love love this magical recipe. It's basically a straightforward split pea, but it's a bit lighter than usual, and the peas are cooked with big slices of fresh ginger and - here's the real magic - a dried chipotle pepper. That smoky chipotle gives such a nice depth to the soup, and makes the whole house smell just amazing. It's an easy, low fuss recipe too... which is worth a lot in my book! The recipe calls for yellow split peas, so it's more golden than green.

Mystery Night (I don't remember): "Thai-Style Tofu & Vegetables in Spicy Coconut Broth" from "Fresh Food Fast."

Truth be told, this is one of the few recipes I've made from this book that we didn't love. It certainly wasn't bad - we both ate it and enjoyed it. But it's not the kind of thing I'm clamoring to make again. Most importantly, I've got plenty of other Thai tofu & veggie type recipes that are more exciting and delicious than this one.

Tonight!: "Braised Pinto Beans with Delicata Squash, Red Wine & Tomatoes" from Fresh Food Fast.

This recipe however, was a big redemption. It was great! Very exciting to use tomatoes AND delicata squash from our own garden! Also, Peter Berley (the author of FFF) points out how nice it is that you can eat the skins of delicata squash, so that no peeling is required. Very nice indeed. This recipe was perfect for our cold rainy night - tomatoes, squash, beans - a nice complete meal that took about 25 minutes from start to finish. Love it!

Dia De Los Muertos Skeleton Cookies

In honor of Dia De Los Muertos, I made some chocolate-cinnamon skeleton cookies... using my gingerbread man cookie cutter, and easily repurposed with some white frosting.

Some are straightforward skeletons, some have red hearts, and some have sneaky little devil horns.

xo

Jack O Lantern = FOOD!

I come from a long line of frugal folks... and I learned from my mother that a perfectly good pumpkin should never go to waste! So, our family tradition is to quickly convert yesterday's seasonal decor into tomorrow's dinner.

First, thank your special friend, your dear creation, for their loving service in adding to the holiday cheer of Halloween.

Then, go to work! Cut your friend into big wedges...

... until all that remains of your loving Jack O Lantern is a big pile of pumpkin chunks.

Next up: steam your pumpkin. I use the pressure cooker, cuz it's super quick. I cook the pumpkin for 9 minutes at high pressure, and then let the pressure come down naturally. Before I had a pressure cooker, I used old fashioned steaming, and just kept an eye on it until the pumpkin was ready.

The pumpkin flesh should be down-right tender when it's ready.

And the skin should come off super easily.

After you've removed the skins, put your peeled chunks into a strainer, and pick up big handfuls of pumpkin moosh. Begin squeezing out almost all of the moisture. A LOT of moisture comes out. You don't want it dry, but you don't want it soupy either. It's always easy to add more moisture, and harder to get rid of it.

Then, put all your pumpkin into a container, label it, and pop it in the freezer! Then, next time you want to make pumpkin waffles or pumpkin curry soup or pumpkin pie... you can feel very industrious, and break out your old halloween buddy in his reincarnated form.

p.s. You can also save all that great liquid you've squeezed out of the pumpkin - it's a great base for veggie broth or pumpkin soup. But do it all soon - before your pumpkin gets old and rotten!

Happy Day After Halloween!